Russian Cyrillic Keyboards - How to access "Russian Phonetic"

Under Settings>Keyboard>International Keyboards>Russian there are 3 choices, Russian-PC, Russian, Russian Phonetic. I prefer to use "Russian Phonetic" but when I select it, despite the fact that the correct keyboard title is given a check mark, the cyrillic keyboard that pops up in Notes never changes (it is another cyrillic keyboard that I can't type on).

Same thing if I follow the path Settings>International>International>Keyboards >Russian.

Thinking that I was misunderstanding something, or that my day-1 iPad 32GB might somehow have old firmware, I went to my local Apple Store and ran through the same op with a genius on a 3G iPad. No joy; same thing.

Amazing, it's almost 2 Years later, since the 1st post here on 6/10/10, and we are still waiting for Apple to fix this!

I am on iPhone 4S. When I installed iOS 5.1 Upgrade on 3/12/12, I also saw Russian Phonetic Keyboard Layout! I got my Hopes Up too high….

Unfortunately, it is exactly the same as the the other Russian Keyboard Layouts! What an OBVIOUS SCREW UP!!! How could Apple alllow that to slip through? Or, maybe such Functionality is a lot harder to do achieve than we assume?

It's nice of Tom to point this out:

Those settings are for a hardware keyboard. For the virtual keyboard there is only one choice: Russian.

So, does that mean that to use that Russian Phonetic Keyboard Layout on iOS, I'd need to use a Bluetooth Keyboard with my iPhone or iPad? If YES, Apple should have made that clear in the iOS Settings!

So, does that mean that to use that Russian Phonetic Keyboard Layout on iOS, I'd need to use a Bluetooth Keyboard with my iPhone or iPad? If YES, Apple should have made that clear in the iOS Settings!

Yes, that is exactly what it means. I'm suspect Apple thinks they already made it clear by putting that option under the Hardware category and NOT under the Software category. When I saw this myself I had no doubt what the situation was, but it has clearly caused confusion for some users....

Thanks for your Clear Explanation... I totally agree with you about that Hardware Category Confusion... The less Tech Savvy users might miss taht destinction, and not understand that word "Hardware" means they'd need to use a Bluetooth Keyboard with their iPhone or iPad... Instead, they'll think that there might be something wrong with their iOS Upgrade, and might end up Re-Installing as the way to "fix" it:)!?

I totally agree with you about that Hardware Category Confusion... The less Tech Savvy users might miss taht destinction, and not understand that word "Hardware" means they'd need to use a Bluetooth Keyboard

In your feedback, you might suggest to Apple some alternative terms they should use for those categories for users who don't understand the software/hardware distinction.

I just tried to Reply to you and lost my text, cause they are Updating this Discussions... Annoying.. Waste of time... I guess the trick is to always do a Rehearsal in Mail, and then Paste it into the Final Reply here, or at least do Select All before posting here, so that there is a Backup of sorts..

I just tried to Reply to you and lost my text, cause they are Updating this Discussions...

Forum updates tend to be infrequent, but yes, it's not fun to get caught out like that.

Otherwise, the forums are designed to remember if you left in the middle of a comment and offer to use or delete a recovered version. The only time I precompose is with a lengthy reply, but I don't tend to write too many novels here - backups are good in any case.

When I got my new iPad (2 gen), I immediately went to settings, general. There was nothing indicating hardware vs software, it just said "keyboard"and had options for three layouts. I chose phonetic.. and it's NOT phonetic.

I don't see where there is anything that makes it clear that this ifs for hardware keyboards only. the word hardware is not on there anywere. perhaps if you try to change it using some other method, it says that, but it certainly doesn't in the most logical sequence a user would take to change keyboards.

I really need to have a phonetic keyboard! hunt and peck is hard enough when you know where the letters are (I can't easily touch type on the little on screen keyboard), but when the letters aren't where you expect them, it slows me down significantly.

on my android phone there was a third party app which allows me to switch easily between keyboards and includes two versions of a phonetic keyboard. is there anything like that available for Mac?

on my android phone there was a third party app which allows me to switch easily between keyboards and includes two versions of a phonetic keyboard. is there anything like that available for Mac?

No, apps are not allowed to change the system keyboards in iOS. There could be an app that does what you want via copy/paste, but you will have to look for it yourself in the app store.

I don't know why you could not find the Hardware/Software list, but here is what I see when I go to the Keyboards page and then tap on the Russian item. If you do not see the same thing on yours, I think there is something wrong with your iOS installation.

To tell Apple you would like to see a new option in this list, go here:

If it helps, I recently released a custom keyboard (Translit Keyboard) that lets you type phonetically in a number of languages, including Russian. Bonus: letters that don't map to a single character, such as sh/ш, work just as well. (Right now, only iPhone is officially supported, but I think it's still usable on iPad. You can use the Lite version to find out for sure.)

(I've already mentioned this in another thread on the subject, so I hope it doesn't come off as too self-promotey. But I really think this keyboard could massively help those of us who can't type fast on the default Russian keyboard. I built it because I wanted to chat with my Russian relatives in Messages without dropping down to 25% of my typing speed!)

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